SUPER SHARP OSPREYS TAKE DOWN CONNACHT

The Ospreys came up against Connacht at The Showground in the Irish province on Friday night, and recorded a heavy 16-44 victory.

The visitors scored seven tries, including a hat-trick from Jonny Vaughton as they crushed the bottom side, moving the team from south Wales closer to Heineken Cup qualification. Fly-half Shaun Connor, hooker Huw Bennett, replacement flanker Lee Beech and Wales centre Sonny Parker all crossed for five-pointers.

Connacht´s bid for a clean sweep of victories over the Welsh regions in Galway was undone by a ruthless second half Ospreys performance - they only trailed 17-16 at the interval. A breakaway try from centre John Hearty in first-half injury time had helped the province keep in touch.

Fly-half Mark McHugh booted three penalties but the Ospreys mercilessly scored 24 points without reply in the second half to power clear. The Ospreys set the ball rolling in the fourth minute. Parker bulldozed up the Connacht line before flicking a pass for Connor to scoot in at the corner.

McHugh, backed by the wind, fired over a brace of penalties in reply, but the classy Connor was on top form in open play and he sliced through the Connacht defence to set up Bennett´s score on 23 minutes. Following another McHugh penalty, Hearty nabbed his first Celtic League try.

New Zealander Gavin Williams set it up when he charged down Connor´s chip and raced into the Ospreys´ half - Hearty was free to collect his pass and dot down. McHugh missed a crucial penalty just after the restart, and despite having back row Richie Pugh binned for a ruck offence, the Ospreys easily controlled the second half.

Henson landed a penalty to push himself through the 600-point mark in the League. Beech (62), Vaughton (69, 72) and Parker (80) shared out the tries with Vaughton´s hat-trick score seeing him outpace Conor McPhillips down the left wing. Hook, making only his second appearance in an Ospreys shirt, converted his side´s final two tries.

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